Your Right to Know

State lawmakers raised concerns yesterday about Gov. John Kasich’s plan to help students who
struggle with reading and hold back youngsters who aren’t reading at grade level by the end of
third grade.

While no one questioned the goal of ensuring that third-graders read proficiently before being
advanced, many asked where cash-strapped school districts were supposed to come up with the money
to pay for tutoring, summer school and other services that would be required.

“If a second-grader hasn’t improved, they would be doing intense intervention over the
summertime. To me, that’s an unfunded mandate. Will there be funds provided? That’s an expensive
venture,” Sen. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, asked during a hearing before the Senate
Education Committee.

The administration has not proposed additional state aid for the so-called third-grade reading
guarantee, one of several initiatives aimed at improving schools included in the governor’s
midbiennium budget review.

“There are no specific funds being proposed for that,” said Dick Ross, director of Kasich’s
Office of 21st Century Education.

However, Ross said that shouldn’t stop districts from providing such critical services, even if
it means shifting funds from other areas.

“I think that’s just good education, and that’s what good school districts do.”

To support its plan, the administration points to a recent report by the Annie E. Casey
Foundation that found that students behind in reading by the end of third grade are four times more
likely to drop out of school.

Yesterday was the first hearing on Kasich’s education initiatives, which are now part of a
separate bill before the Senate.

Afterward, committee chairwoman Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, said the committee needs to
understand the costs of the third-grade reading guarantee, and she plans to bring in witnesses to
testify about those expenses, including officials from Florida, which has a similar law.

“It’s key for us to see the actual costs,” she said.

The proposal requires schools to assess students’ reading ability beginning in kindergarten and
provide intervention services to those below grade level. Youngsters still behind by the end of
third grade would be held back.

In addition to the reading effort, Kasich’s education plan calls for a new grading system for
schools; more opportunities for students to explore possible careers while they are still in
school; and new standards for drop-out recovery schools serving those who left high school without
a diploma.

The proposed grading system mirrors the Department of Education’s request to federal regulators
to use letter grades, A to F, on state-issued report cards instead of designations ranging from “
excellent with distinction” to “academic emergency.”

Yesterday, some lawmakers questioned the need for the change, noting that they have heard no
concerns from parents and school officials. “I don’t think I’ve ever had one parent say to me they
didn’t understand our rating system,” Manning said.

But Ross said there have been complaints, contending that letter grades, along with “more
challenging standards,” will give parents and others a clearer picture of how well schools are
doing.

“The standards are just too low,” he said.

Last year, 382 school districts and charter schools received an A, or excellent rating, on state
report cards. Under the proposed system, 22 school districts in Ohio would have gotten an A.